Sunday English Service – 26 June 2022

Transcript

Please turn with me to Genesis chapter 3. We’ve been doing a series on redemption titled ‘Redeemed’, talking about redemption. In order to understand what redemption all is about, we need to understand first of all what God gave us when He created us. The glory, the greatness that God put within man must be understood. Only then you will understand what we lost when we fell into sin, when Adam fell into sin and plunged us all into sin. And then only if you understand that, then you will understand what is redeemed and given back to you in and through Christ in that redemption.So, we’ve been talking a lot about how man was created in God’s image, the greatness of man and all of that, then we touched upon how there is a fallen man, there is the greatness as well as the tragedy right now. You see the signs of that greatness but on the other hand, you see the tragic thing that has happened to him, that has pulled him down and ruined him. I want to talk today more about the consequences of man’s sin.

Man’s sin and rebellion against God had devastating effects and consequences upon mankind.Not only upon mankind, but upon all creation, it had devastating effects. Why upon all creation?Why would the creation become cursed as a result of man’s sin? John Calvin explains that and probably in the best way. What he says is all creation was made for man’s use. Creation was to meet man’s needs, make his life wonderful, supply every need. The creation is something that God created for man. Therefore, when man suffered the punishment for his sin, he cannot really suffer the punishment without the creation becoming in some way affected by sin. If everything was okay in creation and creation was left untouched by the consequences of sin then man’s life would still be a lot better and he would not experience the punishment of sin in any way. Man has really experienced the punishment of sin, the curse that comes upon him. If it really has to make an impact upon him, then this creation that was made for him, to serve him, must also suffer in some way as a result of his sin. So, all creation, since it was made for man’s use, it also bears the punishment of man’s sin. And therefore, not only man, but his offspring,his descendants. They also fall into the same sin that Adam had fallen into, because he fell as a representative. He plunged us all into sin. That’s the way the Bible presents it and I’ll make it clearer as we go by.

As we go into it today. So, man was affected, had devastating consequences upon him. His descendants were affected. It had devastating consequences upon him; the creation was affected. It had devastating consequences upon creation. Now, in order to highlight all of that, I’m going to read a long passage from Genesis chapter 3. Starting from verse 7 I’m going to read all the way to the end because we need to understand this fall, the devastating consequences of sin. How far reaching it is, how staggering it is. What it has done to mankind, what it has done to Gods creation. And by this we will also understand that sin has left nothing untouched. And it has touched every aspect of man inside and outside. Inside of him as well as outside of him everything was touched. The redeemer and the redemption that comes through him must also be all encompassing. It must touch every aspect of man inside and outside and make it right in order for it to be the redemption that will work.

So, let me read to you Genesis chapter 3 from verse 7, please listen:“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So, he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  So, the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said:“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children;Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:“Cursed is the ground for your sake;In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground,For out of it you were taken;For dust you are,And to dust you shall return.” And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So, He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Let’s look at what sin had done to man. This, these verses that I just said to you, has all the information right there. The first thing is, let’s look at how it affected man. When sin came in man’s mind was affected. It looked like something definitely happened to his mind so that he was not able to make the right judgment. He was confused. And Paul talks about it in Romans chapter 1 in verse 21. It says, “Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened”. Now, this is the thing that happened to man’s mind when they rejected God from their mind. They did not honour God, did not worship God. They knew that God has commanded them certain things, and they chose not to keep God’s commandment and chose to listen to the devil and go along with what the devil has said. There is a rebellion that is happening in the heart of man, that is what sin is, before the act happened the rebellion has happened in the heart. The heart has turned against God. And as a result, they became futile in their thoughts, wasteful in their thinking.The word futile, the word that can be described in so many ways, ineffective in the way they thought and made decisions. Confusion in the realm of their mind, futile their thinking and their hearts were darkened. In other words, there’s tremendous confusion. There’s a dark cloud over their mind and their heart, unable to see things very clearly and make proper judgments.

So, Adam, the first man was affected and it clearly shows how the entire human race was affected. That is why the Apostle Paul uses that in Romans chapter 1, verse 21, and talks about how the hearts have been darkened and they become futile in their thinking. Not only that, death for the human body also set in. God said already in chapter 2 and verse 17, ““Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. And when you eat it, for in the day that you eat it” He said in a way that anybody can understand that it is serious business. He said, “or in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. The Hebrew language the way it is said is you will ‘die die’, surely die. It’s a double verb like you know, you will die die. That’s the way it comes in the Hebrew language I mean, you cannot say it any stronger than that, you will die die. So, as the result of this rebellion and this sin Adam and Eve lost their lives, spiritually, mentally their thinking was messed up. There’s no clarity, there’s confusion. Their emotions were messed up; their ability to decide things was messed up. Physically they entered into the realm of death and now they will die.Now, I don’t know if all Christians understand that these far-reaching consequences of sin. But a lot of Christians think of sin as something that has ruined man’s relationship with God. They just end with that;they say man’s relationship with God was ruined; now we got to set that right. They take it as a very simple thing that the relationship broke now the relationship has to be restored. Well, sure that that is part of it. But the consequence was far more devastating than what Christian people normally have understood it to be. It’s not just the breaking of a relationship with God. It had devastating, far reaching, all-encompassing consequences for men.

Secondly, not only for man but man’s descendants. This became a problem. See what happened to Adam as a representative of man. Adam was a representative of the human race. So whatever God said to him, how God dealt with him is the representative of the human race. So, his disobedience,his rebellion against God is not something very personal. He became the sole representative being the first man. He represented the entire human race and as such, he did not sin and just fall into sin as a person personally, but he did it for the entire human race. The entire human race was pulled into sin, Adam and Eve being the root of all mankind. This sin, this guilt of sin, therefore, came upon his descendants. This corrupted nature was conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. People that are born to Adam and Eve now began to be filled with this nature of corruption and sin in them. Now you may say, well, that doesn’t sound fair. What did I do? Why should I be a sinner? Because my forefathers so long ago, Adam sinned, why should I be plunged into sin because he sinned? But the Bible explains it dramatically the way sometimes the Bible puts it is amazing. If you go to the fifth chapter, see in first two chapters there is creation, the third chapter there is the fall, the fourth chapter there is a story of Cain and Abel. And the fifth chapter is very important in one way.

So, when you read these chapters in the Bible, sometimes certain words or certain phrases, certain lines appear again and again.And whenever that happens, you need to make a note of that. You just need to underline certain things like that and you will begin to see the whole point of what its saying.Certain things are repeated again and again so that you will notice it and take that point. For example, in the first chapter, the thing that is repeated seven times again and again, seven times one line appears again and again, that is, “and God said”, and starting with “and God said, Let there be light”, seven times that sentence appears again and again. And after man fell, immediately after that in the fifth chapter, when you come in look at what fifth chapter sounds like. Fifth Chapter was fine. So, all the days that Adam lived, were 930 years, and he died. Notice the line “and he died”. This and ‘he died’ is going to appear again and again. That’s the mark of the chapter. It’s a chapter that is announcing the fact that death has now arrived. It has become the fact of the human race. It has become an inevitable reality of human life, that nobody can avoid death. Everybody that is born has to die, every man will die. Every man, woman and child born in this world will one day die.Death has arrived- sins devastating consequence, death that has come in. Nobody can escape it. What a powerful way to announce it. The full chapter seven times again and again Adam died, it says. And then verse 8, it says Seth he died after living 912 years. And then in verse 14, it says Canan he died after living 910 years. And verse 17 says Mahaleleel lived 895 years and he died. Then verse 20 says Jared lived 962 years and he died. No matter how long you live,you die. That’s the whole point. You can live 1000 years till you die.

So, all the days of Methuselah, verse 27 says he lived for 969 years and he died and all the days of Lamech were 777 years and he died. Methuselah lived 969 years and he died. There’s the tragedy of man. He has become a creature that dies, not only man dies, but everything also dies, trees die, plants die, animals die. Anything that is born dies. Death has set in, there is a process of death and decay that has set in and they say it like this birth, growth, death, and decay. This is the thing that defines life now. People are born, they grow, they die and they decay. And go from dust to dust. What a sad tragic thing that it is. And the Apostle Paul captures the whole thing in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Verse 22. He understands Genesis 5 and he understands this whole concept of how sins devastating consequences touched all humanity. That death has come in and become a reality of human life. And so, he puts it this way. In chapter 15 in verse 22 “For as in Adam all die”, takes it as a matter of fact, where did he get it? He got it in Genesis, as in Adam all die. What a way to put it because of Adam. Because he became a dying being all of us die. He has set the tone, he has rebelled, he has sinned against God.He has brought death and death has entered into human life. Everybody dies. Have you ever been to a home where nobody has died? Sometimes when people die, people say why did it happen in my house? Why did it happen? I say sorry, in every house that happens, not just your house. In my house it has happened. I went to a death and some people that didn’t believe in God were telling everybody“You believed in God see what happened”. So, I told them “all right, if you don’t believe in God, you won’t die”? What are you talking about? Everybody dies. Everybody dies. The guy who’s talking about it, if we come and join him and go to his house and live there will we not die? We will die. Every religion, every faith, every race, no matter who they are, not only human beings, but everything also dies.Death has set in; death has come into this world and has captured everyone literally.

So, Adam fell, his mind, his emotions, his will, his spirit, his body. All were affected. It didn’t leave it only with him but the same thing was carried on to his generations. And thirdly, you know in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28; we have what is called the cultural mandate. You know that verse where it says after Agnon God made Adam and Eve. He blessed them and said,“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion”. That verse we have studied so many times. It’s a very important verse. It is called the cultural mandate. Why is it called the cultural mandate? See God has made the creation, God is the creator. He has created everything. God created everything, but man must now cultivate it and bring about a culture. The result of man’s cultivation is what we call as culture. That is man must take the world that God has made and make something out of it. Today he’s made cars, airplanes, rockets. He has made computers;man, never invented one raw material that he has used in any of these things. Everything God already created. In creation, God created everything. But now man must take what God has created, out of it he creates computers, he creates trains, cars, planes, and whatever is necessary for man to make man’s life better. That is what you call culture. Man cultivating, developing, doing things. So, God says well, I’ve created you now you cultivate. How do you do it? Be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue and dominate. Work with it; solve your problems with what I’ve given to you. Everything to solve the problems that you will face is here in this earth. I’ve created it; I’ve put it there, work with it and do it He says. Now that cultural mandate was not cancelled just because man has now fallen into sin. That cultural mandate still holds good. Still, you’re supposed to cultivate, still you’re supposed to be fruitful, multiply, replenish,subdue, and dominate. You still have to do it; you’re still obligated to do what God has meant for you to do as a human being. The problem is because no man has fallen into sin, there is some difficulty in doing what God has told man to do because he’s now warped by sin. He must cultivate, he must develop. He must create a culture out of what God has given to him. He is obligated to do it. He must do it. And he will do it. But the problem is since he is now warped by sin, things are difficult now. That cultivation, development is going to be difficult and challenging because sin has come in. I’ll show you how, all of that is there in 3rd chapter.

It is mentioned here, 1 God said be fruitful and multiply. Well, one of the ways that he must be fruitful and multiply certainly at that time, fruitful and multiplication means so many things. But at that time since he was the first man one thing it certainly meant was, he supposed to have children, his children were supposed to have children. So, they must increase in number. Be fruitful and multiply. That’s one thing you must do. Be fruitful and multiply is something that he must carry out. But there’s problem in that, in being fruitful and multiply there is problem.We read about in 3rd chapter in verse 16. God comes to the woman after they’ve sinned and says to the woman “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children”. I will greatly multiply my translation says, I’m reading for New King James, there are other translations that will say “I will surely multiply”. But in the Hebrew language, they use these double verbs to sometimes emphasize things in a very emphatic way. This is why it says you will die die,“if you eat this fruit, you will die die”it says in 2 17 Genesis and in 316 here it says,“I will multiply multiply, your sorrow and your conception”. “I will multiply multiply your sorrow and your conception”, now what is this about?

Traditionally people have thought that this means that this whole ordeal of giving birth to a child is going to be very difficult, the delivery mainly. That one day when the woman goes through that extreme pain and a challenging situation as she gives birth to a child. People normally think that’s what it’s referring to. That that’s going to be a difficult experience, that some even lose their life when they give birth to the first child and so it’s a very challenging situation. So, they think that that is what it’s referring to, the pain will be unbearable, beyond normal. In that way the pain is to be multiplied as a result of the curse that has come upon man. Well, it is much more than that they say. What it is saying is it is not the pain of childbearing, not just those few hours or one or two days of pain that the woman goes through as she gives birth to a child, as she delivers the child. It is not just talking about the childbearing and the pain associated with it. It is talking about the child rearing also. That is very interesting. What is the pain in child rearing? In child rearing, there is a pain because now the child that is born, that you’ve given birth to is a child that is born in sin. As the psalmist says,“my mother conceived me in sin”, doesn’t mean that his mother is a bad woman No. He is talking about how all human beings born to this world are born in a state of sin. They’re born with Adam’s sin in them. They’re born in a sinful state because Adam is sin. All humanity now has been plunged into sin. That is why the psalmist says in sin my mother conceived me. So, every child born in this world comes into this world with the seeds of sin in that child’s life.

Now that presents a great challenge, so that childbearing alone is not painful. Child rearing is a big, challenging thing. You ask people that are raising teenage children if you ever raised teenage children you know.  Oh, they got their own mind. They think they know everything. They think you’re too old to know anything. And many times, mentally, they’ll be confused. They will not be able to take the right decisions and they’ll go the wrong way. There is this tendency in them to go in the path of sin and live a life of sin. There is a tendency to yield to temptations, tendency to go after the wrong things. And go in the wrong way. It is naturally there. The very first opportunity they get they’re ready to take off and go in the wrong direction. For many parents, it’s like fire in their lap you know, they just say, oh god help us. How is she going to turn out, how is he going to turn out? What are they going to do next? What are they going to get into? You don’t know. We pray much and we try to help them much and try to keep close to them much and try to do all that we can. But still that sin is there that flares up and takes them in the wrong directions and somehow tries to ruin their lives and ruin their years of their lives in this world. And you cross that stage and you go through that whole suffering of raising a child and disciplining a child and bringing up the child and keeping him on track, safely navigating through life, and then, marriage and studies, marriage and all of these things, work to help him through all of that and come through all of that and crosses all those danger points and so on. And then there is another sad thing. Everybody has to die.

So, have you ever seen old people that have lost one of their children while they’re still alive? Have you ever been with older people who are 78 years old, they’ve lost a son or daughter in their family. I think there is nothing more cruel than that. Many of them will say so. They’ll say I would have been ready to die. I could have given my life. God could have taken me. Look, my son is gone. My daughter is gone. While I’m living, I’m having to see this happen right in front of my eyes. A son whom I gave birth to or a daughter whom I gave birth to has died right in front of me while I’m still alive. They are unable to take it. I’ve been there with many people as it happened. And I can tell that they are greatly hurt. Grieved, troubled by this death.

And great Bible teachers say that it is referring to that kind of thing that continues all the time. You give birth to a child that pain starts there, but it doesn’t leave you. It just continues because it’s a world of sin. It’s a tragic world. The devil has brought in devastating consequences upon human life. And therefore, there is so much tragedy so much sorrow, so much heart-breaking things happening in human life. And it’s referring to that they say, it’s a lot of pain. One fella put it like that;even celebrate birthdays and cupcakes and so on. Every time you cut a cake celebrating your birthday, remember you’re saying that you’re one year closer to death. Now, people will lose all interest in cutting cakes and celebrating birthdays if you put it like that ‘one year closer to death’. And he put it this way he said as soon as a child is born, in his very first birthday itself; he is one year closer to death. I mean, that’s horrible to think about it. But that’s the pain of childbearing and child rearing. There is so much pain and agony attached with this whole thing. Children are such a great blessing. And we enjoy them and we want them and we want to give birth to a child and so on. But then there is so much pain involved in just having the child and raising the child and seeing all kinds of things happen to the child. It’s a terrible thing and it’s all a consequence of sin. One thing about the Bible is this. The Bible explains life very fairly, very clearly. The world has no answers; the world says why did it happen? Why does such things happen? I don’t understand this. I’m confused. Well, we’re not confused. Christians should not be confused. Christians when we look at a world of tragedy. When we look at a world of heart-breaking incidents, we understand exactly what is happening there. It’s all as a result of devastating consequences of sin. It explains what is happening. The Bible explains what is happening, and the Bible explains what the answer is also. That’s the thing about Christianity, it gives a very reasonable explanation for everything that people are confused about today in this world, all right.

But look at this, this pain doesn’t end. It’s not only pain in childbirth and child rearing. Another pain in next verse, verse 17 chapter 3, verse 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life”. Notice that here in my translation the word in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life is used. There are other translations you may have that may say in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. That word pain is translated from the very Hebrew word that is translated in verse 16 talking about the conception, childbearing, child rearing and all that. I’ll multiply your pain, that same word is here mentioned again in verse 17 with reference to work. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Why because the ground is not going to cooperate very well. Things are not going to grow as you plan. Why “Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.” So, thorns and thistles are going to come in and they’re going to go and they’re going to grow plenty and try to choke whatever you have sown or whatever you’re trying to reap. So, your efforts to produce for you and your family, your efforts to work and make the money to meet the needs and deliver a decent life is affected by the thorns and thistles that grows in plenty. The problems that crop up everywhere, that tries to choke you and trouble you. I preached on work a few years ago, preached on why we need to work, what the Bible says about it and then I preached on why work is difficult. That’s a question that people have why work is so difficult if God is there, why my work is so difficult. That’s the thing. It’s one of the devastating consequences of sin. Work is difficult because a curse has come in because the ground is cursed. Therefore, man’s labours must increase many folds in order to produce very little. That’s the way it has now become.

So, the same word used in verse 16 about childbearing and child rearing is used here. When it talks about the pain with reference to work, pain and childbearing and child rearing. Pain in producing the fruit of your ground. And that is why people wake up every morning burdened. People wake up every morning thinking this is going to be a hard day. That’s why there are difficulties at work. There are difficulties in raising children; there are difficulties in all areas of our existence. Why? The Bible says these are consequences of sin. So, that immediately broadens our understanding of what’s going on here in this world, in what kind of world we live in.

And fourthly, you see that man and his wife are estranged from one another, and man and God are also estranged.His relationship with God suffers and the relationship with one another also suffers. Where do we see that,right here in this chapter. Where as soon as they sin, you see them going and hiding but before that God used to come in the cool of the day and have a time with them. And I’m sure that was a very wonderful time for which they longed for and waited for, brought such happiness. They will never try to hide from God, run from God. They wish that God would come and fellowship with them. But now, there came a day when sinners entered and now things have changed. Now they wish that God didn’t turn up. They were worried that God is going to come, they went and hid. And that accentuates the estrangement that now is there between man and God.The relationship between man and God has become difficult. Man is hiding God is searching. That’s the kind of thing that we read about just now. Not only that the man and woman, Adam and Eve have become alienated from one another. Where do we see that? Right there,we just read. Not only did they go and hide from God when God asked them why they were hiding. They said they were hiding because they were naked. That nakedness made them ashamed before God that’s one thing, but they were always naked already. All this time they’ve been naked, physically naked, and in every way naked in the sense that they lived openly they didn’t have anything to hide, cover. They didn’t have to worry about somebody seeing something. They were open, their lives were open. That’s the way they lived. But now not only are they hiding from God, but they’re also hiding from one another. The fig leaves clothing that they made and the coat of skin that God made for them later on. They’re symbols, physical symbolic reminders of the breakdown of their unity. Now they have something to hide from one another. Now they have to cover up, now they have to make sure that the other person doesn’t see everything. Now they have a lot to cover up. They have a lot to hide. They have a lot to make sure that the other person does not know, they have a lot of secrets. That’s bad. That’s not good for a relationship. You have to keep a lot of secrets and worried about what the other person might find out. There is no openness. Now that shows how the relationship is deteriorating or has deteriorated. Right?

Not only that. You see that they’re refusing to accept their guilt and their responsibility for their actions. God comes and says in verse 11, who told you that you’re naked? And God Himself says, have you eaten of the fruit of the tree which I told you or commanded you not to eat? And verse 12, Adam says the woman that you gave me.Now preachers deal with this verse a lot, especially during wedding times. You know, we take this and they make a big deal out of it. The woman that you gave me, man blaming the woman, there’s something that happened as a result of sin, and we leave it at that, but there is something greater happening here. It’s not just man blaming the woman. That’s nothing compared to man blaming God ultimately. Now you’ve got to have a lot of nerve to blame God. God put him in the Garden of Eden and clearly told him you should eat of all the fruit of the trees of the garden, but you shall not have eaten out of this one tree. And what he does he goes and eats exactly the one that was forbidden. Was God to be blamed for it? He says the woman that you gave me Lord if she was not there. It would not have happened.

But he didn’t leave it at that. He says she’s there because you gave her to me. The woman that you gave me, it looks like God you made the wrong choice. You didn’t know how to select a bride for me. You didn’t know how to get the perfect wife for me. Some people are looking for a perfect wife. Tell me when you find one. Blaming God. God is the problem because he got me this wife and she’s the one that gave me this. He made the wrong choice. That’s why I’m ending up in trouble today. Now today, you will see this happening everywhere, people blaming God. You’ll see every day you will see it all around you. Anything bad happens, people immediately raise this question – where is God? You say you believe in God. You’re preaching about God. Where is God? Why did so many people die if God is there, why did this disaster happen? Why did that tsunami happen? Why were so many people killed in this terrorism event and so on? I mean, they’re just blaming God and even the terrorists they don’t blame. They make God the terrorist. What was God doing? Why did God make this terrorist? Why was even allowed to be born? That kind of thing. God is to be blamed. Amazing. This is happening everywhere today. So, you can see the devastating effects of sin, consequences of sin. It’s touching even marriage, the relationship between man and a woman in marriage is affected, become complicated. They have to now hide and cover up and do all kinds of things in order to live together. They cannot live openly as they were intended to live like before.

Now then, another thing is there we’re going into it, deep into it really. In verse 16, chapter 3, verse 16, after talking about how He will multiply her sorrow and corrupt conception and that in pain, she shall bring forth children. Then God says listen to this, says to the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you”. “Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you”. You know what is happening here? This is not an ordinary thing; Adam was a representative man. And I would say Adam and Eve; their married life is a representative married life, what is happening to them? It is indicating here. These words here are meant to indicate that the struggles and tensions that have now come into the first marriage relationship, that is the relationship between Adam and Eve, will prevail in the on-going marriage institution. After the fall, that every marriage is going to be like that. That human life is going to be filled with such complication. That is what these words are trying to indicate your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Normally we would take these words to mean that the woman is meant to show great affection and desire for intimacy towards the husband, that she will be drawn to the husband she will desire the husband, that’s what it’s saying we’ll say or see He is telling the woman your desire shall be for your husband. This is not a blessing He is announcing, please keep that in mind. If there was a blessing He is announcing and He said your desire shall be for your husband, we’ll say Amen brother, let there be more desire you know. We like that you know Oh, let her desire me more than ever. But this is not a good thing. This is part of the curse. The desire of the woman for the man is announced as part of the curse your desire shall be for your husband. And then next line is the thing that doesn’t match there and he shall rule over you. Even if you like the first line, you don’t like the second line and he shall rule over you. Now what is he saying? He’s saying, Look, I told you not to eat of this one particular tree, you should have instructed that woman because before God made the woman, God had instructed man regarding everything. Did you know that God never spoke to the woman? In the creation story it’s presented like that. God made man, put him in the garden and spoke only to man said till it, keep it, guard it. Then He says you should eat of all the trees but not of this one tree, the day you do you will die die. Then He brings all the animals before him, tells him to name everything and then only tells him it’s not good for a man to be alone. I will make a helpmate for you, a companion for you. And then he goes and makes a companion. And he’s all thrilled about it when he presents the woman to him. He says oh she’s the bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. For this reason, shall a man leave his father and mother, he’s excited. The guy is thrilled in the previous chapter. When He presents the woman,he says oh, she’s the bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. She is part of me. She has come from me, from my very flesh and my very bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father, he is ready to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. Ah, very thrilled. There’s a wow effect you know and what happened to the wow here?

Now in the next chapter after the fall happened, the wow has changed into the [Tamil 00:49:36] What is happening here is what God is saying is this look, you will desire him. Your desire will be for him but he’s not going to take it in a good way. You know she took and ate, see God instructed only man I forgot to tell you that whole thing. God never spoke to the woman God spoke only to man, how was the woman to know what God said?The woman was supposed to know that she’s not supposed to eat of that fruit. How would she know? The man must be like a pastor in his home, he should have told his wife. He should have taught his wife commandments of God. He should have told her this is the thing; God has forbidden this. Don’t even think about eating it. Even if someone says it’s good for you don’t do it. Even if it looks good for you don’t do it because the one bigger than everybody has said not to do it and he said the day you eat it you’ll die die. You’ll surely die. Don’t do it. He should have instructed her. I don’t know if he instructed her and to what extent, something is missing there. Then the devil comes and talks to her and easily convinces her and she eats and she has a desire for her husband also she sees her husband standing there. She said well, I’m eating; let me give it to him also, so she gives it to him. And from a loving wife, it’s coming so he took it and he ate it also. Your desire shall be for your husband. That’s the reason she gave him. Now when she comes with a desire for him, she comes with another fruit. When she comes with another plate of something and shows some desire wanting him to take it, he is now thinking what are you trying to do to me? You’re trying to run my life. You’re trying to tell me what to do. The last time I did what you said that’s when the trouble came. All consequences of sin descended upon me; my life became a tragic life. What are you trying to do to me? Because I listened to you, that’s when I run into problems. So, I’m not going to listen to you. Are you trying to run my life? I’m going to run your life.

So, she’s trying to show affection to him, but he’s going to rule over because he does not like this idea of her taking the lead and doing things. You can see immediately that marriage has become very complicated.

A lot of people today say why there’s so much complication in marriage, divorce courts are full. People are getting very well educated;they’re getting degree after degree. Economy is growing into trillions. We’re moving but divorce courts are filling up also. They’re not able to handle the load. That’s how many divorce cases. Why? Because of the consequences of sin. The devastating consequences of sin. It doesn’t leave anyone; it causes complication in every relationship. It comes in and there is the competition as to who’s going to lead, you’re going to lead, I’m going to lead. If you try to lead,I’ll try to stop that.  I’ll make sure I lead. Some people say I wear the pants here. If you have to say you wear the pants then there’s some problem there.That is why the very idea of talking like that means that there is a problem there. There is a tragedy that is happening there. There’s a misunderstanding there. There’s suspicion, there is lack of cooperation there. That’s why such talks happen. All right.

So, marriage is complicated. Now I’m trying to show you that the consequences of sin don’t leave anything. It touches every aspect of human life, the spirit soul body, human emotions, the will, the affections, the work of our hands, our married life and social life. Everything is touched by it, leaves no area of human life unaffected. Next thing man has now exiled from the perfect physical environment in which he was living in thus far. Exiled into a world that is wild, that is undeveloped and not only that, but that is also no problem because the man in an unfallen state, he can develop it, he can make it beautiful, he can make it like the Garden of Eden. But now, he’s fallen. That’s the problem. Sin has come in so things are difficult now. He is introduced to a world that is subjected to vanity, futility, and frustration those Biblical words are used. The creation that has come under curse, a world that has become subjected to futility, frustration, and vanity. Now he is subjected to that kind of world, now he is introduced to that kind of world. He was living in a fine place called the Garden of Eden now he is in a world of vanity,futility, and frustration. That’s a terrible thing; he is in a different world. And he’s messed up. Before he could solve all those problems. Before the fall he was just like God fixed all the chaos,emptiness, and darkness. He can do anything. He can take useless things and make it wonderful, but now it takes a lot more effort. The fall has ruined him.

Next all of creation is subjected to futility, all of creation. You read it in Romans chapter 8. Let me go there,Romans chapter 8 and let me read to you from verse 20 onwards “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope”. See the creation it says was subjected to futility “because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption” ah there’s another term there ‘bondage of corruption’. The creation is caught in a bondage of corruption. It is in a state of corruption. It is unable to come out of it, deliver itself out of it. Nobody can deliver it. A Redeemer has to come to deliver it. The creation has come under a bondage to corruption. “Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”. Ah, here’s the wonderful news given here. In the midst of all this tragedy Paul sees the whole picture he says the creation has been subjected to futility, subjected to corruption, it has become corrupted, it is unable to deliver itself. It is in bondage to it; means it cannot get out. But there is a Redeemer that God has sent. That Redeemer is the one that will bring glorious liberty to the children of God not only will the people be brought into the glorious liberty, not only will man who has been subjected to Satan’s authority and sins authority and has become a slave of sin and Satan will be delivered and brought into Liberty along with man. The creation which entered into such bondage, as a result of the fall will also come out and it also will be set free and brought into the liberty of the children of God. When we enter into our liberty when we are set free, when we are delivered. When we are redeemed, the creation also enters into that redemptive state it is saying.And it says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now”. Creation is labouring, it’s personifying creation, like a person is talking about, like a woman waiting for the child to be born, the creation cannot wait. It’s on the verge of giving birth, that even that redemption or the fulfilment of that redemption is going to happen. Redemption has happened in some ways. I’ve already told you that there’s a now and not yet aspect to redemption. Some parts of redemption are already there. There are other parts that is yet to happen. There’s a part that has happened. There is a part that is yet to happen. And this is talking about the part that is yet to happen. Jesus has already come, died on the cross brought forgiveness of sins. He’s brought authority over sin and Satan, given it to us. He said resist the devil he’ll flee from you. Cast out devils in my name.

So, redemption has happened. We’ve been set free from sin and the power, the bondage of sin and bondage of Satan. We have authority and power over Satan all of these things have happened is given to us. But redemption complete form where even the creation will be redeemed will come back to the state in which it was and even human body, the bodily redemption, where we will become undying beings. Death will be removed from human life. That part of that redemption is going to happen when Jesus comes. So, he says the creation is groaning for it to happen, can’t wait. Not only that, but we also have the firstfruits of the Spirit. What is the word firstfruits? Firstfruits mean that redemptions firstfruits are experienced by us. Healing is firstfruit. Long life is firstfruit. Health is firstfruit. Blessing and the work of our hands is first fruit.

Have you got redemption? Are you redeemed? The Bible says yes. We’ve been redeemed. We have the forgiveness of sin. In certain aspects of redemption is already available to us. We have the firstfruits like I’ve said the down payment is already given. The down payment is big enough to cover a lot of areas of our lives. So, the blessing of the work of our hands in this world of difficulty in the world of sin and curse, God says I’ll command the blessing upon the work of your hand, when blessing is commanded -why must it be commanded? It must be commanded because curse is working. Otherwise, curse will pull you down. Curse is powerful it will pull you down. Blessing is more powerful it’ll pull you up in spite of the curse. How does an airplane fly with three 400 passengers with all their luggage?  Sometimes they load up elephants and other stuff in there also they say. With tons and tons of material the aeroplane takes off. How is this law of gravity not working? It’s working all the time. Then how does the plane take off and fly in the air in spite of gravity does it fly? Yes. Because we know the law of gravity is powerful. Everything will come down, it will fall. Airplane doesn’t fall. Why? Because they operate with three or four engines. They’re set in motion that creates and generates a power and there is a design given to the aeroplane, aerodynamic design that is given to the airplane. And certain physical laws are employed through the generation of power through these engines. And they gain speed and whoa it takes off in spite of the pulling power of the law of gravity. That flight flies. It takes off and flies and stays up in the air 30 40,000 feet above for many hours. Blessing is like that. You may live in a cursed world;curse may be everywhere around. The world has become a tragic world, failure everywhere around but you are blessed. You have the blessing of God you’ve been redeemed there are certain blessings of redemption available to you now.

There are certain things that you are supposed to enjoy. Enjoy the authority that you have over Satan, cast out the devil. Resist the devil and he’ll flee from you. Don’t yield to Satan. He is not the Lord of you, he maybe the god of this world, but your God, my God is Jesus. We live in a world where everything is not perfect. But the blessing of the Lord is more than enough for us to meet our every need to make things work for us. Amen.

 We also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.Eagerly waiting for the redemption of our body. We’re waiting for the day when we will never die. Every time I go to a funeral place and bury a person. My heart groans for the day when we will never have to die and never have to do another funeral. That’s the most difficult thing you know, to do the funerals.Where we will never see death anymore. We’ll never need graveyards anymore. And we will never need preachers to come and bury anymore. Amen. I groan for that. I wait for that.

Then mankind is next, alienated from eternal life. We’re back to Genesis chapter 3. The last three verses it says “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life” All this time he could’ve eaten of it. The guy could have eaten all the trees, God said you can eat of, just this one particular tree you should not eat of. So, the tree of life was available for him to eat. And he could have partaken in eternal life eating it. That’s what sin does. You know, you have a refrigerator full of stuff and you tell your kid, look we have so much stuff for you. Eat whatever you want, but don’t touch this one thing. And he’s going to wait until you leave and not touch anything else but touch that one thing you told him not to touch. That’s what sin is. He’s going to go exactly for that, he’s going to think the whole time why is he saying not to eat of it? What is there? Why I shouldn’t eat of it. That’s exactly what man did. And so, God says all right now he’s fallen, if he takes and eats it,he is going to now live forever in that fallen state. Just imagine man living forever in the fallen state. That would be sad, isn’t it? All the rowdies and murderers and thieves in rows living for 1000s of years that would be a terrible thing. That’s why later on you will find God reduces the number of years that people live. They’re living for hundreds of years. He said all right, no more than 120 that’s it. Maximum 120 no more. You can’t live forever and ever; the world won’t bear it. We can’t bear it.

So, God brings him out and puts the Cherubim, the angelic beings to watch the Garden of Eden so that man does not try to attempt to come and take of the Tree of Life and eat it and live forever. Flaming sword is put there that is turning every which way continuously. The garden is kept from men entering into it. Mankind has alienated from eternal life so that the Redeemer can come and redeem him and bring him from that state into the glorious state. All right. This is a sad story in one way but in the middle of it, there is some blessing. See in the midst of all this sin and the judgment upon sin and the curse that has come upon, that’s all we saw today basically. God’s grace is also wonderfully revealed. Look at Verse 14 onwards, that is revealed beautifully. God first speaks to the serpent. Notice what He says to the serpent in chapter 3 and verse 14. So, the Lord God said to the serpent, “because you’ve done this, you are cursed more than all cattle. And more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust all the days of your life” Let me say a few things here.God is speaking to the serpent and He pronounces two judgments upon the serpent as a punishment for what he had done, his role in this whole fall. He says, on the belly you will go and you will eat dust. So, I think probably he was more upright and walking before that now on the belly he’s got to go.And now not only on the belly he’s got to go,but he’s also got to eat the dust of the earth.

Now, this crawling on your belly, slithering serpent, the slithering posture, and the eating dust thing. Both of these things represent humiliation and defeat in the Old Testament Scriptures. That’s the worst way you can put down a person, you slither, you crawl and you eat dust. That’s the way you put down a person, humiliate the person, defeat a person.Here in the midst of all the sin and the judgment upon sin and the curse that has come upon man, God is now dealing with the serpent. The devil who’s behind it all and He’s bringing judgment upon him. He says you will slither all your life; you will just crawl on the ground all the days of your life and you will eat dust of the ground because he spoke with his mouth and ruined everything. And he made the woman eat the fruit that was forbidden with the mouth he will now eat dust. Tremendous humiliation and defeat it speaks of but look at the way it is put there. You cannot take this verse very lightly. It says,“because you’ve done this, you’re cursed more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field”. My translation says,“more than all cattle more than all beasts of the field”. Some translations say,“above all cattle above all beasts of the field”, twice the ‘above all’ is mentioned. Above all, is a phrase that compares one with the other. Above all means more than all other cattle, more than all other wild animals. That same above all or more than all appears in 1^st verse in chapter 3. Listen to this “Now the serpent was more cunning (more cunning) than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made”. The Jewish scholars and rabbis say that because the serpent was more cunning than other beasts of the field. He was more cursed than anything else. The more the cunning, the more the curse. That’s the way God promises judgment upon the devil was brought this upon mankind. The one who was behind all of this. The devil who was the source of all evil. God right in the middle of the man’s sin, the tragedy of curse coming upon him and the judgment. Right in the middle of it there is good news. And the good news is the devil is judged, sin is judged. It will never go noticed by God. God will come down upon it. God knows every sin, God will judge sin, God will judge the devil. That’s the news that is given here. And then it says, “And you shall eat dust all the days of your life”. Notice that ‘all the days of your life’ now all the days of your life, they say, it’s not a reference to just this present life or just the present time when God told him that. All the days of your life means going into eternity. It’s an eschatological word. That means it’s a word that has to do with the end of times and on into eternity. God is another word saying to the devil, forever and ever in all of eternity to come. You will eat the dust of the earth. You will be humiliated and defeated. You will never rise from this humiliation and defeat. What a pronouncement of judgment upon the devil who has done this.

And then, verse 15, that glorious picture of the coming Messiah. Right in the middle of the curse, right in the middle of the judgment, right in the middle of all the sin and all the tragedy that’s happening. God is saying to the devil of all people, He is saying to the devil, “I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise his heel”. The seed of the woman is Jesus the Messiah, this is the first promise of the coming Messiah Genesis 315. Jesus came;yes, the devil bruised His heel on the cross. But Jesus bruised his head on the cross. He defeated the devil, one of the things that was done on the cross apart from atoning for our sins, a judgment upon Satan. Satan’s head was crushed. His authority was taken and the risen Christ is the one that says I will have all power and authority in heaven and earth, and He’s the one that says go resist the devil, he’ll flee from you, cast out devils. These are the things that will follow those that believe. They will cast out devils in my name. Redemption has started. Forgiveness of sin has been given, authority over devil is given. Blessing has become part of our life. There are some things yet to come. But there is a down payment that covers a lot right now. Are you redeemed? Are you enjoying the down payment? Are you enjoying the blessings of redemption? Are you a redeemed person? Can you say I’ve been redeemed? And I’m blessed of the Lord I may live in a world of sin. I may live in a world where the god of this world is the devil. I may live in a world of tragedies all around me. I may live in a world surrounded by confusion and the work of the devil. But the blessing of the Lord upholds me, the grace of God is sufficient for me. And God is there with me, right in the middle of it so that I can navigate through this life successfully, and go on to the other side, where redemption will be complete and full. Amen.

Let’s all stand together, please. Praise You, God.